


This Is the Memory (This Is the Last Time)

by CycloneRachel



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: (mentioned) - Freeform, Angst, F/M, Gen, Internal Monologue, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, No Dialogue, One Shot, One-Sided Attraction, spoilers for 4x10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 17:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17491946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/pseuds/CycloneRachel
Summary: Querl thought he would never forget her.





	This Is the Memory (This Is the Last Time)

For as long as he can remember, the woman that is Supergirl has been one singular, unified being- at least, in how Querl perceived her.

There was Kara Zor-El, born in Argo City, on the planet Krypton. Full of promise, Rao’s fire burning in her as she was raised by her birth parents, Alura and Zor-El, and given everything she needed in her formative years.  
That child, of course, began a transformation of sorts into the young woman she would become when she was tasked to raise her cousin, Kal-El, on the eve of Krypton’s destruction.

She trusted that such a plan would succeed, and though she had no real plan for how she’d survive on this planet she and her cousin were being sent to, especially with an infant in her care, she knew she would have to survive. It was the only way to keep her world alive, as well as her people- she was the only living Kryptonian who knew how they’d died, and how they’d lived.

(Or at least, so she thought. But that came much later)

But things in Kara’s life always seemed to veer off-course from their intended path, starting with the pod she’d been in, that landed in the Phantom Zone. Those were dark days, as Kara had described, full of the absence of life- everything that Kara loved, and wanted back, since she had just seen its destruction in front of her. This was the furthest from light she had ever been, and she could only hope it would be over soon, that it wouldn’t be too long before she’d get out and find Kal-El.

(Was Kal-El trapped with her, she wondered? He had been sent out a few moments before her. Perhaps…)

Through mysterious forces, however, she had ended up freed after all- except she had been gone for much, much longer than she’d intended. The short delay she’d imagined was in fact twenty-four years, and while she’d pictured herself hugging Kal-El, in place of the infant she’d last seen was a full-grown man, wearing the crest of their family against a backdrop of blue that seemed too bright, alongside a cape almost too red in this new sunlight she was experiencing.

(It was always too bright for her, in the following days. But as she was learning, that was only her getting used to the yellow sun, learning its effects and absorbing it- so that, one day as Alura had described, and as she was seeing in Kal-El, she too could do extraordinary things.)

(And she did. But for her own protection, her true hero’s journey would have to wait)

By the time it did, she had fully embraced Kara Danvers- normal, average woman in every sense of the word. Hiding behind lead-lined glasses, serving as an assistant in the hopes that she’d someday be promoted to something greater, except it was the promotion that found her, when her sister was in danger.

Her sister. Alex Danvers, her hero, though she wouldn’t come to understand the other side of that title until she discovered how far she would truly go to protect her, what exactly she was doing to keep her safe.

(And what she would keep doing, over and over and over and over again.)

She saved Alex, that night, and as she rose from the water the plane had crashed into, she had experienced a rebirth of sorts- that very night, Supergirl was born. Of Kara Danvers, of Kara Zor-El- three people, in one.

Querl knew someone who quite literally illustrated that concept, but this was different- Kara was Kara was Supergirl, and it was impossible to separate them within her. All three together formed an unshakable foundation, on which stood his heroine as he knew her.

(Or at least, as he had known her.)

He was most familiar with the superhero herself, the facet shown to everyone, who showed him there was a choice. Though she hadn’t been present in his life physically, he’d been in the company of someone who reflected her, and through him, she had taught him to hope.

That there was more to him than a dark past and a darker family history. He could step into the light, be the antithesis of them, and leave everything he’d thought he knew about his future behind.

And at his lowest point, there in that prison cell, where else could he go?

In those early days, she was his inspiration, and as he learned about her, he thought he would come to completely understand her, as he sought to do with everything he found. And for his efforts, he had tried, but he had neglected the other two facets- that nobody in his time could truly understand, unless they happened to meet her in person. But the odds of that happening were miniscule.

Until. Until the Blight, until Imra’s sister died and she decided a plan to fix everything. It would change everything too, especially her marriage, but she was willing to do it, and he was willing to follow.

He regretted lying to his best friend, definitely. But those regrets left his mind when he was awoken, and sent into her mind-palace, and especially when he saw her in person. Or not in person, things were complicated. But the point remained that during that time, he began to understand Kara Danvers, and how important she was in connecting the image of Supergirl he’d been so familiar with. Through that, and in his time spent working with her, he’d also come to understand Kara Zor-El, and the person she had already been who was prepared to accept the responsibility of her entire world on her shoulders.

He cared deeply for that person. He cared about _her_ , at the end of it all, all of her.

He still didn’t know if she felt that way about him- but he hoped she did. That she would, if she knew how much she’d truly inspired him.

Querl Dox had wanted to believe he would never forget Supergirl. And that was true, to some extent. He didn’t forget Supergirl.

He only forgot her foundation.


End file.
